Improvement in elevated railways



2 Sheets-S-heet 1. C.. DONKERSLEY. Elevated-Railway.

No. 219,392. Patented Sept. 9,1879.

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H. PETERS, PHOTD-LITHGGRAFHER. WASHINGYON, D C4 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. C.DONKERSLEY. Elevated-Railway.

No. 219,392. Patented sept.9,1s79- WEZ/asses jizz/waff??? Vasinglegrooved rail joining one lhaving three ,y z z, of t-hesingle-grooved rail.

. and two side posts, a', for the support of bars,

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

CORNELIUS DONKERSLEY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN ELEVATED RAiLWAYS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 219,392, datedSeptember 9, 1879; application filed To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, CORNELIUS DoNKEus- LEY, of New York, in the county ofNew York and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Elevated Railways, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention rela-tes to that class of elevated railways in which thecars are running by central wheels upon a single-rail track.

The object of the invention is to attain more rigidity and simplicity of'construction of such railways, reduce their rattling noise, increasetraction by increasing adhesion between the. drive-wheel and rail, andto provide4 for the lateral steadying of the cars and for their safesupportin case of accident bybroken rail.

My invention consists in the construction and combination of the variousparts, as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, in Sheet l, Figure l represents a sideelevation of a portion of my improved elevated single-rail railway,partly broken out. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same, taken onthe line w :t of Fig. l, and showing the drive-wheel and side wheels inposition as when in use. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of the same,taken on the line y y of Fig. l, and showing also a portion of the sidebars for the stretcher. Fig. 4t is a plan view of a port-ion of thetrack, showing grooves. Fig. 5 is a cross-section, on the line In Sheet2, Figs. 6 and 7 represent-a side view and a crosssection, respectively,of a portion of my ele-v vated railway, in which the stretcher isprovided with two side bars on each side.

Similar letters of reference indicate the same parts in the differentfigures.

The track is supported upon standards or posts A, placed at suitabledistances apart, and high enough above ground to prevent the blockadingof a train bysnow. rlhese standards A have a deep recess or opening attheir upper ends, so as to form a central horizontal surface, o, for thesupport of the stretcher,

one on each side of the stretcher.

B is the said stretcher, and C C( the said side bars. llhe stretcher Bis made of corrugated iron plate of thickness and height proportioned tothe requisite strength, and the side posts, af, are shorter than theheight of the stretcher by just the proper thickness of the side bars, CC', so that when placed in the position shown in the drawings theplaneof the Lipper surfacesof the bars C will coincide with the plane ofthe'upper edge ot' the corrugated iron stretcher B, and the said barsand stretcher together form a continuous support for the rail.

The stretcher B is secured to the s ide bars, O O', (at the points wherethe corrugations of the former come in contact with the inside edges ofthe latter,) by rivets or bolts b going through side bar, C C', andstretcher-plate B simultaneously. The surface a in the standard A may beprovided with a groove, as shown at c in Fig. 3, to receive and retainthe lower edge of the stretcher B, if desired.

By this construction immense strength and rigidity are obtained toeectually resist vertiy tcrial, d, (whose composition I will make thesubject ot' a separate application for .patent,) which, thus interposedbetween the rail and its bed throughout the entire length of the road,forms an excellent means of deadening the rattling noise of the railway,the plank itself being also conducive to that effect.

E is the rail, provided all along its surface with one or morecontinuous V-shaped grooves, c, and the drive-wheel F has annularV-shaped Webs f, corresponding in number, size, and position with thesaid grooves e, so as to exactly t the latter. The edge ot' each web fisfaced off or turned down flat, as shown at f', and the point of thelangle at the bottom of the corresponding groove e is cut away byforming a square channel, el, of the same width as th`e face j" of thecorresponding web j', thus having a space under each face j" suficientlyThe entire upper surface `of the plank D is covered with anon-conducting ma large to make sure that the weight of the locomotiveshall exert a wedgin g pressure upon the sides only of the webs andgrooves, and consequently produce a far greater adhesion vto the railthan with rails of ordinary construction, and greatly increase thetraction of the engine; This affords acontrollable means of varying thetraction in proportion to the requirements of the grade by simplyvarying the number of grooves in the rail-that is to say, by placing asingle-grooved rail on a level part of the road, and continuing with arail of several grooves, as shown in Fig. 4, where an up-grade occurs.

By the shape of cross-section of the singlegrooved rail shown in Fig. 5,it will be seen that its bearing-surface comprises not only the sides ofthe central groove e, but also the outer bevel-surfaces, e2.

.I lay, however, no claim to forming an annular ange upon the wheelworking in a groove upon the rail, for that, I am aware, is old, aninstance being shown in Patent No. .1,107 of 1839.

In order to steady the locomotive or car against lateral movement, suchas is due to centrifugal forcein passi nga curve ofthe track, I providesmooth-faced conical side wheels, G,

one or more, on each side of and a distance below the rail E, saidwheels being mounted on shafts or journals gin bearings H, attacheddirectly or indirectly to the body or frame of the locomotive or car,and surround the `shafts g with spiral springs h, acting to hold thewheels G in position to bring their conical surfaces in ruiming contactwith the beveled surfaces of two safety-rails, I, which latter I arrangecontinuous, one on each side of the track, as seen in the drawings, andsecure them to the standards A, retaining' them in position at theproper distance apart by cross braces t' at intervals.

The wheels G are not intended to support any portion of the weight,.except to prevent accident in consequence of a broken rail or fromother cause, in w-hich case the safety-rails I receive the pressure, andthe cars may be moved along on them by the wheels G until the defectiveplace is passed over.

By the beveled form of the side wheels, G, and safety-rails I, thesprings h act to relieve the effect of sudden pressure, whether verticalor lateral, and thus prevent damage by concussion between the saidwheels and rails, as any setting or wabbling of the cars only causes theside wheels, G, to travel higher up or lower down upon the inclinedfaces of the safetyrails I, more or less varying the tension of thesprings L, according to the force exerted.

I do not claim, broadly, the combination of side wheels and a centralwheel, for that, Iam aware, is old and has been variously used before,examples of which are shown in patent to N. Emmons, April 17, 1837, alsoPatent No. 173,240 of 1876, and others; nor do I claim, broadly, acontinuous packing to muffie the sound, for-such packing has beenapplied along the vertical web of a T-rail, and packing has also beenused underneath the rail at points where the same rests on the sleeper,as shown in Patent N o. 208,880 of 1878 5 nor do I claim, broadly, arail or beam having vertical corrugations, instances of such being shownin Patent No. 124,175 (for railroad-rail) and No. 101,015, (for beamsand girders.)

It is evident that this my invention is well adapted also for use intowing canal-boats. y

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. In an elevated railway, .the stretcher, formed ofcorrugated metallic plate B and longitudinal side bars or braces, C C',in combination with the grooved rail E and standards A, having suitablebearing-surfaces a, vsubstantially as specified.

2. The standard A, having a recess or opening at its Lipper end to formthe central surface a, and the side posts, a', in combination with thecorrugated stretcher B and the lon gitudinal. side braces, C C',substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

3. rlhe continuous plank D, with or without a non-conductive covering,in combination with the corrugated stretcher B and the longitudinal sidebraces, C G', to form a bed for support-ing the grooved rail E upon thesaid stretcher, substantially as specified.

4. The rail E, provided with one or more V- grooves, e, having bottomchannels el, in combination with the drive-wheel F, havingcircumferential annular V-shaped websf, provided with iiattened facesj", as and for the purpose set forth.

5. A railroad-rail, E, having one or more V-grooves, c, provided withcentral bottom channels, el, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

6. A single rail elevated -railway track formed by the combination, witha singlegrooved rail, of a rail having two or more similar grooves toincrease traction on an ascending grade, substantially as set forth.

7. The spiral relief -springh, arranged to push endwise upon thehorizontal shaft g of the wheel G, in combination with the stationarybearing H and the beveled safety-rail I, as and for the purpose setforth.

8. In a single-rail elevated railway, the combination of the centralwheel, F, with the smooth-faced bevel-wheels G, when the latter arearranged to run upon the bevel upper side of the safety side rails I,substantially as specified.

9. In an elevated railway, the combination of the rail E, having abottom-channeled central groove, el, the con tin nous plank D, and thesupporting-standard A, substantially as set forth.

CORNELIUS DONKERSLEY.

Witnesses SIGFRID LINDHAGEN, G. Snnewrck.

